THE PASTOR'S LOVE LETTER (2 OF 21)

Last Sunday morning I tried to give the historical background and give you a little understanding of why it is Paul who is writing to the saints at Philippi. We find that in Acts 16.

The Apostle Paul is writing a letter to the members of the church in the city of Philippi. We found in Acts 16 how this church came into existence, and we saw that there was a nucleus of people he had won to Christ who formed that church. Now, it's about 10 years after Paul founded the church, and he is writing a letter back to those believers.

Paul is using the form of letter writing which was current in those days. We don't write letters in this form today. When we write a letter, we first of all address it "Dear," to whom we are writing. Then we give the body of the letter, and then at the conclusion we say who the letter is from, "Yours truly."

In the New Testament day they used a little different form. They first of all started off by telling you who was writing the letter. Secondly, they would tell you who they were writing the letter to, and then they would give you the body of the letter. That's the way Paul is writing this letter. He is using the common form of his day.

There is something in addition to that because we know that the Holy Spirit was inspiring Paul to write this letter, and that's why this letter is in our Bible today. The Holy Spirit was inspiring Paul to share with those young Christians in Philippi tremendous spiritual truth. In turn, the Holy Spirit inspired him to write timeless truths so that you and I in 2005, when we open up this letter and begin to read, God is speaking through the pages of this book in this letter to you and to me some 2000 years after he wrote.

The second thing you have to keep in mind is that he is writing this letter from prison. In the first chapter, verse 13, he says, "So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the ...

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